Prosecutors accused the five Pakistani defendants, aged between 22 and 47, of using credit cards owned by Australians and Americans to make 43 bookings via the Emirates call centre.

Two of the defendants, A.S. and M.K., used the electronic tickets for return journeys to Karachi.

‘Groundless accusations’

When the defendants appeared before the Dubai Court of First Instance they firmly refuted what they described as groundless accusations.

A.S. and M.K. claimed that they were unaware of any problem with the tickets when they defended themselves before Presiding Judge Fahmi Mounir Fahmi in courtroom four.

According to the arraignment sheet, prosecutors said the defendants swindled and defrauded Dh130,000 from Emirates after the call centre’s attendants processed the tickets based on false credit card details.

An Iranian safety and security officer at the airline testified that the suspects purchased the tickets using the credit card details of people living outside the UAE.